Book of Mormon Evidences: Literary form of Chiasmus

Chiasmus is a literally art form, a form of parallelism used as a poetical structure in some ancient writings from the Middle East and Greece. The word chiasmus derives from the Greek letter chi (X) which symbolizes the top-to-bottom mirror image reflection achieved by elements of text. An example of a very simple chiasmus is found in Psalms 124:7:

We have escaped as a birdFrom the snare of the fowlersThe snare is brokenAnd we have escaped.

In 1969, John W. Welch reported he discovery of many-element chiasms in the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith testified to have translated from plates written anciently by Hebrew descendants.The historical record has yielded no direct evidence that Joseph Smith actually knew about chiasmus when he translated the Book of Mormon in 1829, although some other people at that time did.

If he did not know about chiasmus, then its presence in the book might be considered as evidence for the authenticity of the book as modern translation of a record written anciently by those familiar with chiastic style.

So far, here are the stats of chiasmus in the scriptures:

CHIASMS IN THE SCRIPTURES961 chiasms have been identified in the Book of Mormon.53% of the verses the Book of Mormon are Chiastic72% of the small plates of Nephi are Chiastic.33 different authors in the Book of Mormon used Chiasms.33-Chiasms are found in the Pearl of Great Price225 Chiasms are found in the Doctrine and Covenants

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